Vonage CEO Quits, Company Will Cut Jobs, Marketing
Bye-bye, Mike. Vonage CEO Michael Snyder "resigned from the board effective Thursday, and Chairman Jeffrey Citron will be interim CEO until the company finds a replacement," according to CNNMoney. Vonage will "reduce its general administrative expenses by $30 million through the rest of 2007 by cutting its workforce and consolidating operations.
It plans to reduce marketing expenses by $110 million." The move comes following a judgment that Vonage had been infringing patents owned by Verizon.
Verizon has great lawyers. —MEGHANN MARCO
PREVIOUSLY: Verizon Sues to Shut Down Vonage
No New Customers: Judge Bars Vonage From Serving New Accounts
Never Mind, Vonage Can Still Sign Up New Customers
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Comments:
Glad I didn't buy vonage stock when it came out. I almost did (wipes sweat off brow).
So much for the captain going down with the ship. Chivalry is dead....
Thanks, Verizon, for ensuring yet again I won't ever be your customer. You just destroyed the lives of thousands of people, all because someone else was actually competing with your nickel-and-diming services.
@Buran: I'm not so sure about that. Back when I was looking into VoIP services, I heard nothing but bad things about Vonage. And if they really did infringe on Verizon's patents, how is that Verizon's fault? I mean, sure, I hate Verizon as much as the next guy, but really...
@Buran: I'm a sad, long-time, loyal Vonage customer. But I have to agree overall with pestie. Although I did have early problems with Vonage, they've been rock-solid the past few years. However, if they really infringe on a solid patent owned by Verizon, rule of law dictates that they should suffer the consequences.
I'm glad I switched over to another VoIP provider awhile back. Better service, lower prices, and for now, no Verizon threats of doom.
OH My god! The guys buttoned the bottom button of his suit jacket!?!?! What? Are you kidding me? That is such a very very bad no no for any suit wearing person.
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@pestie: Ever look into their crippled cell phones? They've even admitted they do that to rip you off. I guess you missed the v710 debacle.
And yes, it is Verizon's fault that all those people are losing their jobs. No one held a gun to their head and forced them to make unreasonable demands that directly led to these job losses.
They'd rather protect their unethical ways than keep people employed. That's a couple thousand people who won't be able to afford ANY phone service anymore ...
Pestie, Verizon has abused our USPTO system to the point that they're gaining patents which are broad and over reaching. Then they use this ammunition given to them to sue companies out of business. Most companies that get sued by these large corps don't even have a chance to see it through in court because of the legions of lawyers corporations like Verizon retain for just such an occasion.
Verizon cell antennae contracts often contain stipulations restricting the use of that tower for by other carrier. Why? Because competition is bad! They'd tout their signal, which they've worked dutifully to ensure is better by keeping other carriers off the towers. They locked the Washington, DC Metro into a multi-year exclusive underground contract. God knows when it will end.
Verizon is evil.
Vonage, well, who knows what they are/were. But they are the little guy in this case. It's sad to see the big guy squashing the little guy. Vonage really brought about a sea change in how long distance was marketed and sold. I hope they don't die (I'm a customer) but the change they brought about -- removing Verizon's fangs -- for the consumer (that's us) was a great one. I'm afraid Verizon has left nothing but blood trails.
Verizon can burn in hell for all I care. Eventually we are going to go back to the old skool way of communicating and use smoke signals as well as pigeons. At least there would be no roaming charges.....
Wow... wow. I really think that Vonage can get out of whatever financial trouble that Verizon may have hit them with, but it doesn't seem like it's working out when the top dogs are bailing out. It's a shame, too, Vonage along with Skype are the faces of VoIP when it came onto the scene.
I have a good friend who works for Verizon, and another who used to, so I've gotten the inside story on how much they suck. And boy, do they ever! The USPTO is horribly broken, that's for sure. Things like the "1-click" patent (along with their fast-and-loose privacy policies) are why I won't buy anything from Amazon. But all big businesses do stuff like this. I'm not saying it's right - I personally believe that it's inhumane and should be criminal for corporations to act the way they do. But given the current regulatory environment, you can't really be surprised that they do what comes naturally. The whole system needs to be fixed, and large corporations need to answer for some of this stuff.
Woo-hoo, woo hoo hoo!